Volunteers find joy in giving at Haven of Rest Christmas feast

Volunteer Stacy Brown, left, hands a bag of food to Charlie Spearman while he sits with Willis Brown, middle, and John Lollis, right, at First Presbyterian Church on Christmas day.

ANDERSON - Beau Chatelain danced around a round table with his 4-year-old adopted sister, Kloee, pausing occasionally and handing her a plate of cake to deliver to someone who had not eaten dessert yet.

The two were among the volunteers who worked to prepare close to 2,000 meals on Christmas Day at the Haven of Rest's annual holiday feast for those in need.

For Chatelain, the day held special joy because just a couple of months ago he was finishing a 3-month sentence in a work-release program.

"I am so grateful now," Chatelain said. "My family is here. It has been amazing."

He's a resident at the Haven of Rest's Transformation Life Center, a Christ-centered program that rehabilitates men living with addictions. Chatelain, who is 25, has battled alcoholism and drug addiction most of his life. Then two years ago, he hit a dead end in his life when he knocked on someone's door in Pelzer, putting a gun to the resident's face and demanding cash.

Chatelain was arrested shortly after and convicted of armed robbery and first-degree burglary.

"When I was arrested, I told the judge I needed a change but I didn't know how," Chatelain said. "I believed in God, but I didn't know him."

Now he's here. And on Friday, he was with his mother, his father, his brother and his sister, all of whom had driven 12 hours from Louisiana to spend the holiday with him.

His mother, Sherry Rivet, said she, her husband, Ty, their 16-year-old son, Kade Rivet, and their adopted daughter, Kloee, have been to Anderson twice now to help Beau during the Haven of Rest's Christmas dinner. She was serving meals on Friday and her husband was delivering meals to those unable to get out.

A smile spread across her face as she talked about Beau and the change she's seen in him in the last two years.

"It has been a wonderful Christmas," she said.

They were among a group of volunteers feeding about 500 people who came in to the family life center on West Whitner Street in Anderson to eat a hot meal of turkey, dressing, green beans and macaroni and cheese.

The rest of the meals were delivered, said Allen Bolick, the ministry's food director.

For 22 years, the downtown charity has been providing meals to Anderson's hungry for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Toys were given to families in need all week, leading up to Christmas Day.

While the volunteers served meals, Delores Morrison of Anderson stood at the doorway of the family life center, greeting people and handing them religious tracts. She's been coming to the Haven of Rest's holiday meals — at Thanksgiving and Christmas — for 10 years now. She is 57.

She's never married, never had any children.

So this is her blessing during the holidays, she said.

"I love to greet people and talk to them about the Lord," Morrison said. "My heart goes out to them. I want to let people know there's still hope."